days later, white smoke arose from the chimney of the sistine chapel to signal cardinal joseph ratzinger election. he was at 78 the oldest pope elected in nearly 300 years. the future benedict xvi was born in germany in 1927, an archbishop of munich and then cardinal. for nearly three decades he was one of pope john paul's most trusted aides enforcing conservative doctrine. as pope he warned against growing secularism in the west. it was not always a popular stance in europe and north america as evidenced today. >> the next pope we need somebody who will modernize the church somewhat and move with the times so that they don't lose their audience and all the younger people. >> hopefully the next pope will be eventually a little bit better and more inclusive than this one was. >> suarez: but benedict was undeterred by such views. he suggested as much in his 1996 book salt of the earth in which he wrote maybe we're facing a new and different kind of epoch in the church's history where christianity will be characterized more by the mustard seed where it will exist in small seemingly insignif